How to promote your employees' language skills

The development of employees' language skills often poses challenges for HR managers and CEOs. Do employees need any linguistic support at all? And if so, how is such a project carried out? Here you will learn how to first evaluate the needs of your company.

1. Define which languages are needed Think about which languages are spoken or used in your company and make a list. Start with a simple and clear document where each area and function of your company is listed. Work your way through it by noting down the languages needed for each. Try to concentrate on the just the role, without considering the current person doing the job.

2. Identify language gaps After drafting an initial overview and then defining the target, you should have your first discussions with the department managers. Ask them about possible communication problems of individual employees and supplement your list with these insights. You do not need to define the effective language level at this point because you are only in the process of clarifying your needs.

3. Involve management Has your analysis shown that certain employees have language gaps? Then you should involve other decision-makers from the company and bring them on board. Identify the gaps that have been evaluated and discuss the next steps. The earlier you can convince other people of your project, the easier it will be for you to actually implement it.

4. Take further steps Once you have clarified your requirements in detail, the next steps need to be planned. You can find out how best to do this in our free whitepaper "Step by step instructions", which is available to you in the download box.